


The Penguin and The Pebble

by MovieMaker_X



Series: MovieMaker X's Headcanon [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: No Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29563983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MovieMaker_X/pseuds/MovieMaker_X
Summary: This headcanon Sootopolitan folk tale tells the story of a Piplup and a human person colliding paths following the discovery of a single pebble from the city's rocky terrain.
Relationships: None
Series: MovieMaker X's Headcanon [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908712
Kudos: 1





	The Penguin and The Pebble

The penguin Pokémon of the Sootopolitan seas are always a happy bunch, but did you know that back in the day, they were very much solo instead? This pack of birds were not so much the type to get together with anybody else besides their own kind. And neither were us. However, I'll tell you of a story, of how one single pebble would change the course of Sootopolitan culture.

* * *

Out of the seas and waddling onto the warm rock that is the crater of Sootopolis City was a small Piplup. His name was Pierre. No penguin would ever dare to attempt to jump the crater, for it was much too dangerous from up that high, so whoever navigates it must be very careful if they so choose to make their way to the top.

And when the little Pierre reached the peak of the crater, he shouted "I've done it! I've done it, hurrah!" But, he was a little too reckless, and toppled over by accident, crashing right into the ocean of rainwater in the caldera. You'd think he would have suffered sufficient or even fatal injuries, but luckily, this little penguin was unharmed. There he was, right in the heart of the crater known as Sootopolis City. It was unlike anything the Piplup had ever seen before! And so he swam to a nearby shore and started to wander.

The population of approximately 42 personas was surprised to see him waddling on such rocky terrain. He quite enjoyed the satisfaction, though, and continued on, despite the people staring at him in confusion and bewilderment.

The people whispered and commented on our Piplup friend Pierre, and they said such things like "Whoever has heard of a penguin in such an unsuited place as this?" and "Surely this little penguin must be wild! We must stay away at all costs, because this penguin could be dangerous!" But Pierre didn't hear them. He was just too curious to listen, and off he went.

It was then at that very moment, right near the Sootopolitan Gym where the leader Juan resided during his daily duties, Pierre tripped and fell over a small white pebble, sliding on his belly and crashing into the wall.

"Owwww!!" he chirped. "Who tripped me!? Lemme at 'em!" And he angrily stomped around to hunt down who, or what, tripped him. He wasn't looking where he was going and he tripped over the pebble again, but this time he found it. "What's this?" Pierre mumbled, as he looked closely at what he had found. He wondered if it would make a good souvenir for the Piplup rookery outside the crater. He thought it would be heavy, but it was instead very light, and he was able to take the pebble and swim away.

Juan saw Pierre at the last second while he was nearby playing with his cute child named Wallace, but he was too confused to make out what the splash was about. He also wondered why Wallace wasn't paying attention to him, when he was actually focused on the Piplup.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Piplup had finally made it back to the beach shore and told the other penguins about his new souvenir.

He informed "Guys! Guys! You won't believe what I found in the crater!" "You jumped the crater?" A Prinplup in the crowd asked. "Yeah!" he jumped for joy, "It's a light white pebble! Oh, tres magnifico, is it not?"

The rookery of penguins has never seen something so round, so flat, so... strange, in their lives. Pierre was always lonely, so it was nice for him to be listened to by others for once. But then, he got an idea. He walked over to another Piplup in the crowd, and he asked "Ummm, excuse me? But, ummm... I thought you might like this pebble! You wanna be my... friend? Or maybe even lovers?"

The other penguin was confused, but the Alpha Empoleon shouted, "Rogue! He is a rogue! What, penguin lovers of the same species? Such is unheard of! Male and male penguins cannot breed, therefore, we cannot have babies, and our species will be at risk if you dare spread your contagious intents!"

"Either that or one of our kind will rebel against us if they dare partner in a same-sex romance!" another Prinplup shouted. The thought of their species being in danger was almost too much for the teenage and adult penguin Pokémon to even mention without panic, and everybody started trying to run around, yelling and freaking out. Except for Pierre, of course.

"But I learned it from the humans!" said Pierre. And instantly with no delay, everyone gasped. The rookery HATED humans.

One penguin shouted, "You don't mean-"

" **ROGUE! ROGUE! FOOLISH ROGUE!** " the Empoleon cried out, "Who are you to stumble upon the deadly humans who live in the crater!? They are dangerous! They want to use us as such objects for their own self-gain, and we penguins must not allow for our spirit to be taken away!"

"Wait!" a Prinplup interrupted: "The real thing we should be wondering is, does he like them?"

Oh dear, now Pierre was in a tough spot. He didn't want to tell the truth if he knew that the rookery would eventually find out anyway, but he didn't want to lie either because it would possibly make things worse. He remembered the people who curiously stared at him and thought about it for a moment...

Should he lie, or tell the truth? Truth or lie? But finally, he settled on the truth.

"I... I-I..." he stuttered as the others debated, "I... DO like them... They seem friendly..."

"But how can you prove this, Pierre?" said the Empoleon. "You have no proof! How are we supposed to believe that you have not been brainwashed?"

"No! I-"

"Silence!" and Pierre remained quiet.

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" Pierre whimpered.

The Empoleon said nothing, and left him there as the others followed. Pierre knew what would happen if he told the truth, so he shouldn't feel sad, right? But he did. Because he knew that from there on out, no one would have anything to do with him because of what he declared that evening.

* * *

The next morning, without anyone for Pierre to talk to, he decided to turn to the inside of the crater again for guidance. After quite the rocky road spent getting there, he wandered onto the same shore as yesterday and sadly waddled slowly. He swam to the Gym and sat there looking at himself sadly in the water, he was almost too sad to speak, but he spoke anyway.

"What's wrong with me?" he wondered, "What's wrong with a romance of the same gender anything, anybody? Why is everybody so afraid?" "There is no need to be afraid," Pierre thought. "But why, why, why???"

"Why? What did I ever do to them?" murmured a voice from beside him.

And there, Pierre saw another sad face from another human. It was Wallace. Something happened to him that must have made him very sad, too, as he was also sadly staring at his reflection. Pierre was surprised and touched the shoulder of a rather sad Wallace, as if he was mourning with him. Wallace suddenly stared at the Piplup, but the Piplup was too ashamed and sad to turn around to look at who he was touching.

"He looks sad!" Wallace thought. "Kind of like I am now..." Even though all he could hear were sad chirps, he could tell how Pokémon were feeling by looking at their eyes.

For a short while, nobody spoke. Not Pierre, not Wallace, nobody. But then Wallace finally had the urge to utter some words...

"What happened to you?" He finally spoke. Pierre told Wallace about the rookery that frowned upon him last night, but all he could hear were chirps. Yet, somehow, it all made sense.

Pierre still had the pebble with him and showed it to Wallace.

"Ooooh!" he exclaimed. "You go rock-hunting too?" Pierre was confused, but Wallace kept talking.

"My buddy Steven always takes me rock-hunting, too! I see you're quite the energetic penguin, huh?"

He rambled on and on and on, and it wasn't until about 1 minute later that Wallace noticed a very, very confused Pierre. He could not comprehend what Wallace had just rambled about because he spoke much too fast.

And perhaps Wallace thought that it would be best if he took the little Piplup in. At first, Pierre was scared when he saw a human hand coming right for him, but then his panic was eased when he felt cuddling. Wallace promised to Pierre that he would take care of him for the time being, as he thought it would be much too dangerous if he was sent back out to his rookery.

It took a while for Pierre to get used to the household environment, and it especially took him quite a while to get to know the Feebas that Wallace also has with him. To Pierre, the Feebas looked very much weird and kind of unsettling, but eventually the two got along just fine. And after a couple of days, since Wallace decided to train and play with the new Piplup friend, he later evolved into a Prinplup.

And that's when Wallace decided that maybe, just maybe, Pierre would be able to fight back now that his strength has dramatically improved. He didn't like revenge, but this? This was the one exception. He'd do anything to make a Pokémon happy, after all.

* * *

And what convenient timing, too...! The penguin rookery had suggested that Pierre became a Trainer's Pokémon because of what happened before, which the whole entire rookery frowned upon worse than anything. So the entire flock decided to dive into the crater's entrance and waddle into the city to look for the so-called rogue.

The personas shuffled out of the way to let them through, but Pierre was ready to fight. When he saw them coming close, he used all the moves he could use, but nothing worked. And just as the rookery was nearing in closer to him, Wallace slammed open the door.

"STOP! You have no right to hurt one of your own kind!" he cried. And all the rest of the rookery angrily chirped and trumpeted at Wallace, because they indeed very much hated humans. Same-gender penguin couples were already bad enough, but a wild Piplup becoming the Pokémon of a human was the worst thing in the world to this wild flock. But Wallace thought otherwise when he had enough of all the angry noises.

And that's when Pierre the now-just-recently-evolved Prinplup pulled the pebble from his pocket. (Who would have thought that penguins could have pockets?)

He gave it to Wallace and then shuffled away to go find more. And before you know it, he was heavily loaded with pebbles and more pebbles, but also the catch of the day: A rare Luvdisc.

The rookery was about to burst in rage, but when they saw how gentle Wallace was towards the Pokémon when he saw the pebbles and the Luvdisc, most of them eased their concerns. Except for the Empoleon, who was still very much upset. Now he was upset at the rookery!

"You fools!" he trumpeted, "Why must you give in to the human?! This child is our sworn enemy! It matter not if he is only a child! Listen to me!!"

And no one listened.

The thought of an entire rookery refusing to listen to the Alpha penguin, oh, how embarrassing and humiliating for a penguin! Eventually, the Empoleon was forced to give in too.

He trumpeted at the rookery, "Order, order! Since you fellow penguins appear to not be willing to listen to me, I have no choice but to make a change right here and right now."

Everyone listened very closely in detail as he stated, "From this day forth, we penguins of the Sootopolitan seas must acknowledge the fact that people and Pokémon can be indeed be friends, as long as a good Trainer is willing to take care of it."

In Sootopolis City, there was no such thing as a Trainer if they had a Pokémon. The term was mostly frowned upon before, but now this moment would change everything.

The Empoleon officially stated, "We shall now recognize our Pierre as a worthy companion for Wallace, for this fellow child here." Everybody cheered as all the penguins chirped and trumpeted triumphantly.

And when Juan nearby saw the commotion of happiness, he was satisfied. He had never opened his Gym to the public before because battling was usually frowned upon, but now he was ready to make a change starting today.

And after months and months of training, the Prinplup became an Empoleon, and years later, Pierre became the strongest Empoleon around in Hoenn. And over time, the penguin rookery as well as many other cute and cuddly, or hostile and strong penguins gained a rock-hunting habit of their own as the story was passed on. Now, Wallace has returned to guide the Sootopolis Gym because Wallace has become just one of the Hoenn Champions with his immense strength.

* * *

Dear Friends, although this folk tale of why penguins like rocks and how Sootopolis became open to battling is most certainly not actually true, the tale of the penguin and the pebble is most certainly a true story. Maybe someday, if you ask Champion Wallace about the origin story of his Empoleon, he will tell you the very same story.

Just make sure you pay attention, or Pierre might give you an honest response in the face...

_**SLAP!!** _


End file.
